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Habits of the Heart I: Citizen Participation and Public Trust (Summer Reading)

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

Robert Wechsler

I recently read an important social science classic, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life by
Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler,
and Steven M. Tipton (Univ. of California Press, 1985; second
edition 1996). Among other things, Habits of the Heart has a great
deal to say about the subject that forms the heart and soul of
government ethics: public trust.

Lack of Trust
The authors talk about the effects of a lack of trust in government
and politics. For example, they write, “The confident sense of
selfhood that comes from membership in a society in which we
believe, where we both trust and feel trusted, and to which we feel we
securely belong: this is exactly what is threatened by a
crisis of civic membership [and] disillusionment with politics.”

In other words, the situation we find ourselves in today, where
people have little trust in government, affects more than the
ability of our governments to function. It affects us, as well. It
affects how much we participate in government and other community
activities that are not about us and our families. And it affects
how we view our community, how welcoming we are to its new members,
how much we care about its openness and cohesion or, on the other
hand, how much we feel alienated by and angry at those in positions
of authority.

Citizen Participation
Alexis de Tocqueville, in his great work Democracy in America,
wrote, "Citizens who are bound to take part in public affairs must
turn from the private interests and occasionally take a look at
something other than themselves." The authors of Habits of the Heart
argue that "the habits and practices of religion and democratic
participation educate the citizen to a larger view than his purely
private world would allow. These habits and practices rely to some
extent on self-interest in the educational work, but it is only when
self-interest has to some degree been transcended that they succeed.
… American citizenship was anchored in the ethos and institutions of
the face-to-face community of the town.”

The authors emphasize the value of a citizenship approach to
government. They feel that participation in local government to
further one's private interests and those of one's family, friends,
and business associates, rather than to determine and seek the
common good, goes against this concept of citizenship. It changes the
ethos and mars the institutions.

Withdrawal into Private LifeHabits of the Heart revolves around interviews with a number of
people from all walks of life. One expresses a familiar feeling that
"the person who thinks in terms of the common good is a’ sucker’ in
a situation where each individual is trying to pursue his or her own
interests.’" This natural reaction to a government that is about
contending private interests helps sustain this situation by
preventing many public-spirited individuals from getting involved.
And when they do get involved, they are often accused of seeking
their personal interests as well, which makes them feel even worse
than being "suckers."

This was definitely true of me when I first got involved in town
government. Although I didn't feel like a "sucker," I was constantly
attacked for participating in government only to get a position or
otherwise get something for myself. And multiple attempts were made
to destroy my reputation in the community. Fortunately, I had no
business in the community, so my reputation didn't matter to me, at
least not economically. But the goal was to use my
self-interest in preserving my reputation and my peace of mind in order to get me to stop participating in local government.

When we decide to minimize our political involvement, we see it not
as placing our self-interest above the public good, but rather
putting our family first, protecting our emotional state, and saving
ourselves from the taint of corruption. Withdrawal by educated
individuals into private life, due to fear of corruption or of
intimidation, is a form of personal interest that a government
ethics program cannot deal with directly, although an ethics commission can discuss the issue. What is important to emphasize is that this withdrawal into private life is a significant factor in the continued existence of this corruption and
intimidation.

It Shouldn't Take a Hero
Think of the typical American heroes who do get involved in local government
for the common good rather than for their personal interest. One is
the whistleblower, who sacrifices her career, and endangers her
life, to unmask corruption. Then there is the detective who
discovers that a murder is linked to those who run the community,
who try to buy, or bump, him off. Solving the crime becomes a battle
for his integrity.

These heroic types send the message that “to serve society, one must
be able to stand alone, not needing others, not depending on their
judgment, and not submitting to their wishes. ... One accepts the
necessity of remaining alone in order to serve the values of the
group. This obligation to aloneness is an important key to the
American moral imagination."

Which of us has the moral or physical courage to be this sort of
lonely superhero? So few of us choose to get involved, and if we do
get involved, we fufill the basic obligations of our role and let
other, stronger types be the heroes (and they don't really need our
help, do they?). The solution is to have more people get involved,
so that no one has to feel required to act alone or not at all. The
more people who speak out, the easier it is to participate and speak
out ourselves.